superadded to the reason of our Minds is of strength sufficient to subdue all the Temptations to evil if the Creation below us by natural instinct doth those things that are regular shall not these higher Principles do the like always preserve us from known evil and determine us to that which is morally good This is the course of things in Nature every Habit begun is greatly weakened by a forbearance of Acts for every thing must be kept up in the way it was produced a Disposition is first wrought by some Acts and if Act be not continued upon Act the Disposition will fail for things that are not brought to a State of Perfection will go back again if they be not maintained in the same way that they were produced Wherefore it will be worth the while to enquire what our most holy Religion aims at and after what manner it doth affect the Person in whom it is lodged Now Religion makes us live up to our highest Faculties and teaches us to practise such Virtues as become rational Beings who bear the Image of the Immortal God and are exalted above the Inferior Creation prompts us to scorn all Actions that are base unhansom or unworthy our State and Relation in which we stand to our Creator forbids us to do any thing that will make us like Beasts or that would sink us into a lower order by Sensuality and Carnal-mindedness or that would transform us into the likeness of Devils by Pride Presumption and Self conceit makes us God-like in Wisdom Righteousness Goodness Charity Compassion in forgiving Injuries pardoning Enemies and in doing hurt to none but good to all as we have power and opportunity advises us to follow the conduct of true and sincere Reason tames the Extravagancy of our Passions and regulates the Exorbitances of the Will permits us the pleasures of our Bodies so far as they may give no disturbance to the Mind produces a sweet and gracious Temper of Soul calm in it self and loving to Mankind begets in us freedom of Spirit and banishes groundless Fears foolish Imaginations and dastardly Thoughts teaches us to have right Conceptions of God that he doth transact all things with Mankind as a loving Father with his Children creates in us a rational Satisfaction and the joy of a good Conscience advances the Soul to its just Sovereignty over inferior Appetites which would disable it for all good and vertuous Acts and render us weak foolish and unfit for any thing that is generous or noble strengthens our Reason against the Onsets of the World Flesh and Devil which is effected chiefly by stifling all manner of Intemperance for it is this that frustrates the Work of Religion either by stupifying or imaging the Spirits or by putting them into irregular Motions 16. An Exhortation to the Practice of Religion Now therefore let us consider whether or no this Religion doth govern our Lives which we must learn not by our acquaintance with Systems and Models of Divinity but by our keeping its Commandments For unless Christ be inwardly formed in our Hearts the Notions of Religion can save us no more than Arts and Sciences whilst they lye only in Books and Papers without us can make us learned For Christ Jesus did not undergo a reproachful Life and Death merely to bring in a Notion into the World without the changing mending and reforming it so that Men might still be as wicked as they were before and as much under the Power of the Prince of Darkness Indeed Christ came to expiate and attone for our Sins but the end of this was that we might forsake all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts 'T is true there be some that dishearten us in this spiritual Warfare and bring an ill Report upon that Land which we are to conquer telling of nothing but strange Giants the Sons of Anak that we shall never be able to subdue others would suggest that it is enough for us if we be but once in a state of Grace we need not take so great pains to travel any farther or that Christ hath done all for us already without us and nothing need more to be done within us Hearken not to them I beseech you but hear what Caleb and Joshua say Let us go up at once and possess it for we are able to overcome them the hugest Armies of Lusts not by our own Strength but by the Power of the Lord of Hosts hear also the wholsom Words of S. Peter Give all diligence to add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ For Holiness hath something of God in it and therefore it must needs be a victorious and triumphant thing And as the Devils are always active to encourage Evil so the heavenly Host of blessed Angels are as busie in promoting that which is good for we cannot imagin but that the Kingdom of Light should be as true to its own Interest and as vigilant for the enlarging it self as the Kingdom of Darkness But then by Holiness is not meant a mere Performance of the outward Duties of Religion but an inward Soul and Principle of divine Life that enliveneth the dead Carcast of all our outward Devotions For this is the vulgar Error of Mankind they have dreadful Apprehensions of Fire and Brimstone whilst they feed in their Hearts a true and living Fire that is the Hell of Lusts which miserably scorches their Souls and they are not concerned at it they do not perceive how Hell steals upon them whilst they live here And as for Heaven they gaze abroad for it as for some great and high Preferment that must come from without and never look for the beginnings of it to arise within in their own Minds Whereas nothing without us can make us either happy or miserable nothing can either defile or hurt us but what goeth out from us I shall now shut up all with these two Considerations to persuade you farther to the Love of Virtue From the desire we all have after Truth which is not held up by wrangling Disputes and syllogistical Reasonings but by the Purity of our Hearts and Lives neither would it fail of overcoming the World did not the Sensuality of our Dispositions and the Darkness of our false Hearts stop its passage And from the Desires we have of a true Reformation which must be begun in our own Hearts and Lives for all outward Forms and Models thereof are of little worth without the inward Amendment of our own Souls For the baser Metals are not changed by their being cast into a good Mold or by being made up in an elegant Figure neither will adulterate Silver pass when the Touch-stone tryes it neither can we
arise These are the rubs in our way which make a virtuous course so difficult at first because to cast off old Habits of Vice and Folly to which they have been long accustomed is That at which men are generally galled For a State of Vice and of Virtue are not like two Ways that are just parted by a line so as that a Man may step out of the one full into the other when and how he pleases but they are like two Ways that lead to two very distant places one where Happiness is the other where Destruction so that they are as far separated as Heaven and Hell are For the farther a Man hath travelled in the ways of Vice he is at the greater distance from those of Virtue so that it requires time and much striving too to pass from the one to the other it being a long and severe Conflict to master evil Habits the Temptations of the World and of the Flesh will rally and make head again after they have been beaten off NOTWITHSTANDING these Difficulties the seeds of Virtue under the Influences and Care of the Divine Spirit will get the better and grow up to such a strength as will conquer them It is indeed a very unpleasant sight for a vicious Person to look into himself or to consider on his bad courses therefore he labours all he can to stifle his Reason that he may not think A vicious Person is a very unpleasant sight to himself what will be the sad issues of an ungodly Life Hence it is that all Men find some bitterness in casting off their Lusts according to the progress they have made in Vice For if we intend to lead a vertuous Life we must consider that many Virtues are to be practised before the contrary Vices will be subdued We have many irregular Passions to bring into order and must root out all the power of evil Customs We have a Body of sin to put off which clings close to us and are bound to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God to encrease and improve our Virtues that is add to our Faith Knowledg Temperance Patience brotherly Kindness and Charity to abound in all the fruits of Righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God THIS Change cannot be wrought without some trouble this New-birth cannot be brought about without some bitter Pangs a thorow Reformation of Manners being a work that requires much time deliberation and labour to effect it However we should not be discouraged For so soon as we have begun a good course of Life A good course of Life is always under the influence of God's Spirit we are in such a way as God will help us in and if we pursue our advantages we shall every day gain ground and the work will grow easier upon our hands and though we may be a little disheartned at first at the hardships of Virtue yet after a little while we shall be enabled to run the way of God's Commandments with pleasure FOR nothing is more hurtful to a virtuous and holy Life than to believe that God requires those things of us that He hath not given us strength to perform whereas God takes delight in bestowing the gifts of his Spirit upon us nothing being more pleasing to him than that we should partake of his Divine Nature and be made Holy as he is holy that we should be brought back to that State wherein we were when we came out of his hands Therefore one of the greatest discouragements to a virtuous Life is a false and unworthy representation of God A false Notion of God is a great discouragement to a virtuous Life as if the greatest part of the World were really destitute of any ability to do those things which his Gospel requires and yet should be condemned for not doing them These are hard things to be said of the best Being in the World of one whom we believe to have infinitely more goodness in him than is among all the Sons of men So that S. James 1.5 says If any Man lack wisdom let him ask it of God who giveth liberally and upraideth not By which Wisdom are meant all the Fruits of the Spirit for so S. James hath described it that it is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and good works Indeed when we think of our own weakness the corruptions of our Natures the strength of our Lusts and the malice of our Spiritual Adversaries we are apt to despond like the Children of Israel when they heard of the Sons of Anak in their passage to the Holy Land But if we would look beyond our selves and our Enemies as Caleb and Joshua did to the power of the Lord we should as the Apostle saith of weakness become strong and put to flight the Armies of the Aliens For we read 2 Kings 16.13 of Elisha's Servant that he came to his Master in great perplexity of mind and said unto him alas Master what shall we do Behold an Host hath encompassed the City both with Horses and Chariots But when he had opened the Eyes of the young Man he beheld the Mountains full of Horses â—â—d Chariots of Fire about Elisha Thus if our Eyes were opened to view the secret Aids that are ready to join us in the course of Virtue our Fears would soon vanish and we should take courage against all the Enemies that do assault us not only flesh and blood but Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places For saith our Saviour S. Luke 19.26 To every one that hath shall be given and from him that hath not shall be taken away That which He hath which was a proverbial Speech among the Jews and signifies thus much that He who improves the Grace of God shall have more and from him who makes no use of it shall be taken away That which he hath made no improvement of For no Man who enjoys the Gospel is destitute of sufficient means of Salvation The Gospel affords to all sufficient means of Salvation if he be not some way or other wanting to himself To what end else do we persuade Men to submit to the Terms of it to repent and believe to deny ungodliness and wordly Lusts When we know they have no power to do what we exhort them to and God hath resolved to withdraw from them that Grace which is necessary for these purposes For if a Man thought that God gives that Grace whereby we may be saved only to a few and that he always works upon those to whom he gives it in such a manner as they cannot resist Why then should we do any thing in Religion because unless we be of the number of those whom God hath decreed to work effectually upon we can do nothing towards the getting Salvation and if we be of that number we need
in his Morals to refuse evil and to do good wherein consists the goodness of his Mind Now the Doctrine of our Blessed Saviour tends to purge out of the Mind all vicious and depraved Affections and to sow therein the Seeds of Grace and Virtue for his whole Sermon on the Mount tends to implant in us a pure Heart a right Mind clean Affections an obedient Will and a sound Vnderstanding for the effecting of which observe the admirable contrivance of the Divine Wisdom after Mankind was broken and lost by the fall of one that another should be raised out of his Root who should satisfie the offended God should beget a new Generation of Men out of the old Stock and advance the new Nature to a higher degree of Holiness than before for sin is the greatest pollution exorbitance and degeneracy of an intelligent Agent Sin is the greatest degeneracy of an intelligent Being it is worse than rottenness and corruption in natural things for these act according to the course of their own Natures but we as we are intelligent Beings are under the obligation of a Rule and to vary from that Law is a violent and and monstrous thing for all the departures from right Reason in Understanding Beings are privatively Evils and therefore most highly displeasing unto God because all iniquity and sin is a contradiction to the unchangeable Laws of Goodness and Truth which is the Law of Heaven from which God in the fulness of his Liberty and the greatness of his Power doth never depart therefore we may say that all Vice doth offer violence to the Principles of God's Creation and that which is unnatural in the inferior World is nothing so horrid as that which is irrational in the superiour Now see what the consequence is of unnatural things in the lower World Should the Sun leave its Course and instead of being the Fountain of Light should send forth nothing but stench and darkness how prodigious and how terrible would this be Yet whosoever acts against the Divine Will and the Dictates of right Reason doth a thing more frightful than all this more violent and mischievous than if the Fire should cease to burn or the Course of Nature should fail But our Saviour both by his Precepts Our Saviour teaches us to act according to the Reason of things and by his Example hath taught us to act according to the Reason of things so that we must love that which is Equal and Right that which is true and good in its own Nature that which is just and fit according to the Mind and Will of God these are such certain Laws and Principles of Action that it is not in the power of Men or Angels to control any of them and if we vary from them we expose our selves to endless misery we spoil our Natures and the best Principles thereof which are recovered by Christ Jesus his being Sanctification to us which cleanses us from all filthiness and sets the dispositions of our Minds right the Principles of whose Religion do not appear as Spells and Charms but they operate by the illumination of the Mind and Understanding for in the intellectual World the Principles of Knowledge and Understanding are every way as vigorous as the properties and qualities in Nature are only these Act by the way of Reason and information of the Mind for in all the Virtues that are charged upon us by our Saviour there is an agreeableness to the innate Notions of our Minds and Consciences they do all accord with the natural Conceptions we have of what is just and fit to be done therefore all his Commandments are the resolutions of true Reason and when once they are received into the Temper and Constitution of our Souls they will make us to be of the same Mind as he was that is truly Wise Holy and Good for his Doctrine and his Example are Arguments of Reason sufficient to make us wise to deliver us from the power and habits of Vice and to rescue us from the Usurpations of the Devil Now these are as true Principles of Action upon an intelligent Being as any natural Qualities are in inferiour Nature and they will produce Invisible but vital and Spiritual effects with a power much above what natural Agents can exert for as he who gives himself up to Wickedness will never want a Superiour Agent to carry him on and make him more villanous and wretched so on the contrary whosoever watches over himself and employs his faculties to the doing of good shall ever have the assistance of the Divine Spirit to help him and indeed the Christian Religion doth that which is solid and substantial permanent and lasting if it do not obtain this effect in us of Reconciling our Minds and Dispositions to the Mind and Will of God and when the same Mind is in us which was in Christ Jesus of what strong and firm a temper will our Hearts be made What courage shall we have even when few comforters scarce any but Enemies are near us Goodness gentleness patience which are the Mind of Christ by all true Philosophy are esteemed to proceed from the greatest strength of Nature by all true Christianity from the highest Degree of Grace Nay when we have the same Mind with him what Bravery of Spirit will the World discern to be in us We shall not then be afraid of the most exact and severe observations of what we do nothing will appear in our Discourses but Truth and Sincerity nothing in our Lives but Honesty and Plain-dealing in all our private Actions will be seen the most unaffected modesty in all our publick a good Conscience and a love of Virtue A pure Mind thus established and firmly rooted in us will never be discomposed nor shaken by ungovernable Passions we shall feel the comforts of the Evangelical Doctrin our lives will shew the excellencies of it Our Saviours example leads us into the practice of all manner of Virtue May we all therefore endeavour to express our Affections to our Saviour by living comformable to the most perfect Example of Virtue and Piety for from his Example we fetch the most useful Instructions how to submit to the hardest conditions of Life to endure mildly the rigours of the worst State to Pardon and bear the Affronts of Enemies in the various Turns of the World always to practise Righteousness and Mercy Meekness and Long-suffering To implore Gods help by acknowledging our Obligations to Him for all that we have and do enjoy to moderate our appetites and desires in reference to the pleasures of this World and to use them according to Reason and Nature to be True and Faithful Just and Righteous in all our Actions to be kind and merciful ready to do good to all and to relieve them that are in want to be satisfied in every condition whether it be high or low to be meek and gentle because the Meek Man hath always